Port of Long Beach gets $17 million to speed trains

LONG BEACH - The Port of Long Beach snagged a $17 million federal grant Thursday to help increase train volume and cut pollution at the second-busiest U.S. container port, officials said.

The money will be applied to rail upgrades and eliminate a bottleneck at Ocean Boulevard where three rail tracks leading out of the complex briefly narrow to two.

Rep. Laura Richardson, D-Long Beach, said the 340 full-time jobs expected to be created in Long Beach and Los Angeles County by the plans are "critical" during ongoing economic distress.

The funding for this project will also "help improve efficiency, safety and capacity of on-dock rail operations, allowing a reduction in container truck traffic to and from the Port of Long Beach," Richardson said.

Port spokesman Art Wong said the funds from the U.S. Department of Transportation will allow needed rail upgrades to be done sooner.

"Without this grant, we'd have to juggle the pot of money we had and delay something else," said Wong.

Construction on the project could start next year and finish by September 2013, officials said.

A study predicted the higher rail capacity will eliminate 2.3 million truck trips over 20 years, cutting 300,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions and more than

500 tons of other air pollutants.

The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded $511 million in subsidies Thursday under its Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery program.